Friday, January 28, 2011

Cat Conti's NFL Dream and the NFL Lock Out


News from the college football and NFL worlds. . .

Cat Conti

I've mentioned Cat's story in other posts. Briefly, she is a local woman who is following her dream to become the first woman referee in the NFL.

She started out about 11 years ago working high school Freshmen and J.V. games here in Ventura County. Since then she has worked her way up the officiating ranks to work high school Varsity games, then Junior College games and finally Division II college contests.

Next year, she becomes only the second woman to be deemed worthy to officiate football games at the Division I-AA (I know, it is officially the "NCAA Championship Subdivision" but really. . .) college level having been assigned to work Southland Conference games.

The Southland Conference is made up of eight football playing universities -- Central Arkansas, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwesteern Missouri State, Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin State and Texas State.

Cat keeping her eye on the prize. . .
the NFL!

To read more about her interesting story and vew a video clip on her, go to the following Fox Sports link:


Meanwhile, back in the NFL today, the possible player's lock out is still looming. I got this e-mail from Scott Fujita about an ad that the NFL Player's Association has produced, be sure to click on the link below and watch it

Dear Colleagues,


Yesterday, the NFLPA released our Super Bowl Ad titled, "Let Us Play." The ad (watch it HERE) was produced in an attempt to reach NFL fans far and wide to visually convey what a lockout would mean to players and fans. Given the realities of a lockout, we were budget conscious in producing this piece and will be budget conscious in its distribution. We will not be spending $3 million for 30 seconds during the Super Bowl. Besides, the NFL is so popular and successful that those ads have been sold out for months now; even if we wanted to air it during the game, we probably couldn't.

The piece will air in a 30-second version, four times, during the NFLPA College All-Star Game next Saturday on CBS College Sports Network as part of our original contract with the organizers of the game.

Our ability to distribute this video broadly so that it has maximum impact relies on the media and social media network we've established. It also relies on friends and family working their inboxes and emailing it around for all to see. Simply put, I encourage you to email this, tweet this, post it on your Facebook or other social networking pages.

· Tweet the following: RT @NFLLockout #LETUSPLAY Super Bowl Ad launches – Players and Fans stand together to #BlocktheLockout http://bit.ly/LETUSPLAYSBAd

· Post the video to your Facebook page with the following: Check out the players’ online Super Bowl Ad: Let Us Play (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl9BpUgYljQ)

· Post http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl9BpUgYljQ on your website and let others know how they can sign the Petition and receive the most up-to-date information on NFL and Player labor news.

Below is the description attached to the Super Bowl Ad:
"Here we are, Super Bowl, the biggest event in sports, and an NFL Lockout looms very large. As the NFL celebrates its most successful season ever, NFL owners are preparing to lock out players and fans from their game starting in March. Owners have not opened their books or offered justification for this threat. The players want to play and the fans want to see them play. So, why won't the Owners take a Lockout off the table? Do your part as a fan and help Block the Lockout.

To sign the Block the Lockout Petition and for more information, please visit http://www.nfllockout.com/.

Super Bowl Ad details: Produced by NFLPA (with Third Story Films - http://www.thirdstoryfilms.com/ & New Media Strategies - http://www.nms.com/) using a limited budget due to the threat of a lockout. The distribution plan leverages new/social media channels with minimal costs."


Thank you for your help and participation.


Kevin Mawae NFLPA President
NFL Players Association


1 comment:

mineo said...

Wow! A woman in football! Who would have thought that could happen? I guess she must be good or all these refs wouldn't like working with her, right?! I'm looking forwaord to hear more about her!